Cold War 2.0: US investigates claims Russian spies are influencing major EU decisions

Cold War 2.0: US investigates claims Russian spies are influencing major EU decisions

RUSSIAN spies are stirring up political turmoil and disorder across Europe in order to interfere in Britain's EU referendum, weaken support for Nato and block plans for new US missile defence programmes, it has been claimed.

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Washington believes the Kremlin has been infiltrating political parties in Europe to exploit divisions, including over how to tackle the refugee crisis.

Concern is such that Congress has now instructed James Clapper, the US Director of National Intelligence, to carry out a major review into the secret Russian payments to European parties over the last decade.

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One senior British government adviser is reported by the Telegraph as saying there "really is a new Cold War out there...right across the EU we are seeing alarming evidence of Russian efforts to unpick the fabric of European unity on a whole range of vital strategic issues".

Another unnamed source told the paper the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader was seen as a potential opportunity for Russian agents to weaken Europe.

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The Kremlin - at the centre of the investigation

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The infiltration could help Russia spread anti-EU sentiment

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Tanks in Crimea after the annexation in 2014

Far-right parties that have thrived in recent years have also been singled out as possible benefactors of Kremlin cash and could be subjected to close inspection.

They include Greece's ultra-nationalist Golden Dawn and France's Front National, which ranked as the country's most popular party during the first round of voting in December.

Russian links to Austria could be probed, including instances where Russian spies have been discovered using Austrian papers.

Moscow's influence has also been detected in a referendum in the Netherlands next April over whether to block the EU's closer ties with Ukraine.

Igor Sutyagin, a Russia analyst at the defence think tank Royal United Services Institute, said the Kremlin was carrying out "hybrid warfare" that combines traditional military force with clandestine and cyber attacks.

He told the Telegraph: "The Russian campaign exists in a grey area, operating covertly - and often legally - to avoid political blowback, but with the clear aim of weakening Western will to fight, maturing doubts over Nato, the EU, Trident and economic sanctions."